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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Site Updates!

Hey look, SHOES! Aren't these 30s-style heels from Remix so awesome? Also, they come in beige, and thanks to you lovely readers, I am now obsessed with beige heels. Okay, now that I've got your attention, here a few things I wanted to bring up about this little blog.

First of all, as you may have noticed, we've been getting a lot of anonymous comments. I don't mind anonymous comments on principle, but it gets rather confusing when there are several anonymous commenters on one thread. Also, it must be said, these commenters tend to instigate the most discord, for whatever reason. I looked into disabling anonymous comments all together, but that would keep anyone without a Google ID or OpenID from commenting, and I think that's a little extreme. So I've placed a friendly reminder at the top of the comment form asking you not to comment anonymously. If you choose the comment option that says Name/URL, you can simply enter your name or nickname without being a registered user. No need to enter a URL, by the way. I hope this will help for now, but if not, we might need to pull out the big guns! The big guns would probably mean making (and enforcing) a rule that any anonymous comments would be deleted. What do you all think? I should say that troublesome comments are SO in the minority, but it affects the quality of life around here, so it's an important issue I think. I want the focus to be on the many brilliant and insightful comments you all make!

Secondly, I've finally updated to the new Blogger platform, which makes it a snap to insert "jump breaks," or that little line you can click that says "read more." I had been using a complicated Blogger hack to make this happen, and it was amazingly unreliable and mistake-prone. But the bad news is that I have to go back and update all my old posts at the jump break (all 351 of them!). So older posts may look like they're only a paragraph long, but if you click on the post title, you will be able to read the whole thing.

I think that's it for now. As always, if you have any suggestions for ways to improve this blog, I would love to hear them. Thanks for reading and commenting - you guys are the best!

Hey look, MORE SHOES! I recently bought these Clarks sandals, and they have a distinctly 40s vibe. Plus: so comfy!

I never knew that Clarks made such cute shoes - the only ones I seem to find in my mall are the old granny style ones. I will have to go and buy in to this beige shoe trend!

It's a bummer about the commenter issue - I feel like that happens on all of the blogs/sites I follow, though. Anonymous commenters feel that they do not have to own up to anything that they say, which almost invariably leads to hurtful/asinine/combative comments. Good luck with finding a solution - hopefully enough people start to put in their names/url that you don't have to break out the big guns!

I comment using my name but no URL. I have a google ID, but it's connected to a quasi-professional blog that I'd rather not have linked to my hobbies (it's important to be seen as "serious" in my field). I'd suggest developing a moderating policy / deleting comments based on their content, not just whether they're anonymous, but that's just me. It's your blog, your rules. :)

It does seem that the few nasty commentators are always anonymous. People should own up to their comments. Sometimes people don't know how to leave their name, but instructions should help alleviate that .

EKKK....THOSE SHOES ARE ADORABLE! Clarks...oh my word...who new...great now i'm off to totally copy you! they are so stinkin cute! On the anonymous comments i just had my first mean run with that yesterday...all i could think is what a sad life they must lead & the thing is they are not very confident and must not value themselves very much to hide behind the word anonymous! I love your blog!!!!

The ANON's comments are a bummer. If i have something to say that I feel may be a little confrontational, I usually don't type it. I feel you are working hard (for no dinero) to give us a look at your sewing projects. I would like that to continue because it is fun. Comments like what you are describing are no fun.

Thanks for sharing. (PS. as for me if it says to click here to read more, I don't do it)

Lisa, you said you don't click to read more - tell me about this! How did you get to read the part about anonymous comments then (since it was after the jump)? I'm genuinely interested, as I've always wondered how people feel about the "read more" feature.

My main objection to anonymous posters is that it gets confusing at to who said what on a blog with lots and lots of comments -- especially when some anonymous posters are being snarky and some aren't.

I get a few sparse anonymous comments, too. They do like to strip up trouble! I guess people think it's cool to hide behind a computer and make nasty comments? Who knows? I disabled them for a day or so until I came to the same conclusion that you did.

I also agree about banning the Anonymous comments. It's YOUR blog and you should be able to do whatever makes it the best possible experience for YOU and your readers.

As for Clarks...I LURVE them! Right now I'm wearing a pair of tan Wellfleet Tbar sandals and they're adorable and oh so comfy. Here the are on Zappos: http://www.zappos.com/clarks-wellfleet-tbar-tan-leather

As far as anonymous comments go, I say delete offensive ones. I wouldn't delete comments simply because they are anonymous. But your blog, your rules. :D

I dislike having a jump in posts, personally. It means that if I skip a day, I have to open several tabs, or open, read, go back, open, read, go back, and so on. I'll do it, but I greatly prefer blogs without a jump.

Hi Gertie!If you visit your site directly from Google Reader, you don't see the 'read more' option. I get full posts and full comments displayed! It's only when I started reading older entries that I saw the 'read more...' part, when you visit directly on the home page. (Does that make sense?)Anyways, I love your blog! I can't thing of a thing to change. About the anon commenters, do what you have to do. It's amazing what some people will write when they can hide behind a computer!ps. LOVE the shoes - sexy AND comfortable!

I agree with the banning of anonymous comments. Too many people feel they can use the anonymity of the internet to say stuff they would most likely never dare say to people's faces. Even if people don't have a Google Account or whatnot, it doesn't mean they can't sign off their post...

That said, to date I think you've been lucky (or a good moderator!) that the conversations on your blog have tended to be constructive and instructive, even when there's been a healthy dissent between viewpoints. Your recent one on race/ retro fashion had me starting out going 'Eh, what?' only to be fascinated by some of the eye-opening responses.

Oh, and I'm so glad to see you've got a pair of those Clarks, as they are so so cute! I'm so disappointed that I've had to give mine to my 10 year-old daughter because even in their largest size, they were way too small for my size 42 feet (11US?)... My daughter does have very long feet and they look very lovely on her, but it just ain't the same!

In defense of anon--I don't think people are any meaner when anonymous than when using a name, and several of the anons returned and engaged--it just makes carrying on a discussion difficult (and I think one Anon actually read something aimed at ME as an attack on her, and I blame that on the Anon confusion!)

I also know of one blog (unfogged.com) where people, say, occasionally sign as Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton or some other president, and it signals "I'm a regular reader here, and I want to participate in this conversation and make it easy for people to reply to me, but I really don't want this information attached to my usual posting identity". I did think that the anons sounded rather defensive and perhaps adopting temporary names would be more palatable to them.

I like your prompt, but "we want to get to know you" might scare exactly those people who are worried that posting negative comments will carry over into other people's perception of them.

(THANK YOU for not eliminating the Name/URL option---I comment FAR less if I have to log into something, because then I think Google is tracking everywhere I go unless I constantly sign in and sign out and argh. Stupid Blogspot, not letting people block Anon w/o blocking Name/URL.)

You guys can comment as Daffy Duck if you want! It doesn't matter what nickname you use. Just choose one and stick with it if at all possible - at least in the course of a conversation. It may seem like a silly formality, but I do think it will help.

I have to admit that I have always stayed away from beige shoes. For some reason I can't seem to break myself of feeling that shoes should be darker in tone than the clothing they are being worn with, but I think your new pair are just adorable. Thanks for making me rethink my outdated way of thinking.

I love the Clarks. They are one of my favorite brands of shoes. I have a pair of black sandals that I got a major clearance deal on a couple years ago. They look like they would be uncomfortable, but I often have to resist the urge to wear them every single day that it is warm.

I really need to get more daring with my shoe choices. I love seeing your new outfits complete with shoes. It inspires me to break out of my mold.

I love, love, love the shoes. I don't mind the Read More feature. But I can bypass that and go directly to the full article by clicking on the title of your post from my blog roll. When I click on the title of your blog instead of the title of the post, then I get just the snippet of the post with the Read More option.

Anonymous comments can be such a sticky situation; I generally don't have problems with that on my blog (well, mostly because of the platform I use requires you to at least enter something in the Name/Email fields), but I know the issues that plague every blogger with anon/spammy comments. I say just delete the offensive anonymous comments (as you can, of course). I think Sal of Already Pretty puts it well in her comments section, about disrespectful comments being taken down. You are the owner/writer of this blog, and therefore can say that argumentative/offensive anonymous comments can be deleted. ;)

I haven't noticed the anonymous commenters causing trouble, but maybe having a moderating policy where all comments have to be seen by you before you approve them to show up on your blog?

I use Wordpress as a blogging platform now, and I find it's a lot better than blogger.com. (I moved to wp after blogger disabled their ftp support). I have an automatic filter on my blog that filters spam comments and for the most part, works.

I just wanted to comment on having jumps in a post-- someone upthread mentioned the frustration of missing a few days and having to click through multiple times and I have to agree.

When I have a limited time to read blogs, I like being able to scroll down the page and decide based on a quick look if it's something I can take the time to read then. When there's a jump, I feel like I'm committed to reading the post, so sometimes I just skip reading altogether.

Interesting! You guys are kind of blowing my mind that you don't like jump breaks. Thanks for your input! Maybe I will start using them just for longer posts, like tutorials. I don't know - I feel kind of addicted to them. They make the front page look so neat!

I HAVE to comment anonymously! I am a member of Google Reader; however, when I try to sign in using my ID, it just doesn't work. If you can give me any insight into how to fix this, I will be happy to do so. Thx.

Personally, I think jump breaks should be for archived posts only, not the current one. I don't see it, though, I guess 'cause I'm reading through my Blogger dashboard? I get the full post and comments.

Your new shoes are lovely. Got my first ever Clark's sandals (2 pairs; both from the "Artisan" line) a couple weeks ago, and they are sooooo comfy! Like walking on marshmallows. Hope they really do last for years.

2 things. 1. I love the "read more". I have a slow computer and this is much faster.2. I don't post very often but on a few occasions the name/url option didn't work. After 3 failed attempts I gave the anonymous option a try and it went through. This has happened a few times to me and maybe it is happening to others.Kathi G (just in case)

Just to offer a different perspective: I *prefer* the jump break! When I come back from a holiday etc, I like to see at a glance how many posts there are to catch up on, and then to decide which ones to read (eventually I read them all, but not all in one sitting). I open each post in a new tabs, and I read through each one separately including most of the comments. It's a bit like flicking through the contents page before sitting down to read a magazine - kind of creates some lovely anticipation for what's to come! I don't like having to scroll down screeds, and then go to "older posts", etc. I find it easier to 'keep my place' when there's just a preview on the home page.

Plus, I agree with you, Gertie, in that I think it makes the home page look tidier: I can flick through all the lovely pictures as I decide what to read next!

Hi Gertie! I like the read more feature! like kay said, "its like a contents page". sometimes i just read the ones i really want to read and then when i have spare time, go back to the unread ones. although i read your blog almost every day so i dont usually need to go back, but it makes it quicker when i need to go back and find something. about the anonymous comments, i dont have a google account but im sure its easy to get one.... I am always bettys closet in any case. not that thats my real name.....

I went to a cyber bullying conference not so long ago (I work with young people so I go to things like that) and the researcher who was from a very legit university asked us to make a list of all the online things we have signed up for, even though I am usually cautious about what I join the list was about 25 profiles. This seriously made me think twice about what I join and what I dont.

Also I saw a news story about google having lots of thumbs in lots of pies including weapons research so rather not join or download anything they have tried to sell me.

I generally only comment positive things and I always give my first name, but I do read blogs that won't let me comment as an anon. If I really feel like I need to say something I email the blogger.

Hi Gertie and all. Regarding the anonymous commenters, I have been commenting anonymously on this blog not because i had anything negative to say, but because I thought that i would have to sign up for a Google account in order to post under a name. I am strongly opposed to anything and everything Google, simply because they collect way too much information on users. I do not approve of the way that they drive by people's homes and take pictures, and they also collected information on the wireless connections of those homes without anyone's permission. So that's my anonymous story!! I also think that those who post negative comments under the veil of anonymity are COWARDS WITH KEYBOARDS. Now that you let me know that I could check "name/url" I am no longer posting anonymously. LOVE your blog.

Kate - a cyberbullying conference? How interesting! I agree that it's good to be judicious about giving out info online, which is why I like that Blogger gives us an option of entering a name that's not attached to an account. It's interesting that staying anonymous online was part of the researcher's focus since anonymity is so often considered to be a key factor in cyberbullying - on the bullies' parts. Did they talk about that at all? I'm curious if that's true or more of a commonly held belief that may or may not be consistently true.

I'm just going to take this opportunity to delurk and tell you how much I love what you're doing here. I just came across you a few weeks ago and have been voraciously reading your archives. I went to school for Apparel Manufacturing and Design in Minneapolis, and I think your tutorials and field notes are so fun and inspiring as well as full of thoughtful detail.

No comments on the commenter issue. You seem to have it all under control.

The clarks shoes, I notice, are from their "originals" line. I just bought a pair of Mary Jane ballet flats from that line (THE PERFECT SHOE), which sold out on Zappos in an INSTANT. Now I'm going to be coveting these sandals. I notice that, like the ballet flats I bought, they are flat but still feminine. I hope they put out more of these skirt friendly and walking friendly shoes. I was tired of having tread or chunky heels on all of my walkable shoes (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with chunky heels or tread, one just doesn't want it on ALL of one's shoes).

For some people commenting anon is a way of actually avoiding confrontation... If I comment on a news article or opinion piece on a sensitive topic, often I'll do it anonymously. That doesn't mean I am rude in my posts, but I know how heated flame wars can get (I've been on the receiving end of some very nasty comments before) and I don't want people emailing me / commenting on my journal angrily in response to something I've said. I have a feeling that if you forbade anon posting you might only ever hear the dominant opinion, because it can be seriously daunting to post in a thread with 100 other people saying yes and you want to be the only one saying no. Maybe just put up something in your "leave your comment" bit about how you are welcome to leave your thoughts, but that it is important to be respectful of others opinions? It should be okay to disagree if we do it respectfully, but I think some people take disagreement as personal attack and respond in kind - which is why a little reminder about basic etiquette before one posts would serve as a useful reminder.